Dissect my identity: find reach, matches, safeties for an Asian female

College Search & Selection
1

<p><strong><em>THE GRAMMAR IN THE TITLE AND ELSEWHERE I'M SORRY</em></strong></p>

<p>Hello hello!</p>

<p>As the title subtly hints at, I'm a rising senior who happens to be a Chinese female. I'm an international student applying from Canada, and I'd like to hear where you think I should apply. (Hopefully with a slight emphasis on match and safety schools, please?)</p>

<p>Before we continue...what makes me different from most other Canadian applicants? I went to Elementary school in the US (AZ), and middle school in Beijing, China. Evidently, learning Chinese pretty much from scratch was insanely difficult and I cannot tell you how many times people have told me that I wouldn't make it. I did. Similar story moving from China to Canada - I had to pick up French. Another aspect of these moves is the fact that I'm forced to socialize and make friends within groups where cliques are largely already established... also topped with the complete shift in mentality and societal structure, gah, it's a challenge, but worth it.</p>

<p>Lets continue!</p>

<p>What I'm looking for:
- Either rural or close to/ in a major city.
- Good math or finance program.
- Pretty campus.
- Disregard cost. </p>

<p>SAT Reasoning Test:
1st: 2100 (CR680 M730 W690)
2nd: 2280 (CR730 M800 W750)
Planning on studying and not yolo'ing for a 3rd go in October.
(I say YOLO ironically, I hope.)</p>

<p>SAT Subject Tests:
Chem 800
Math II 800</p>

<p>Grades:
IB Diploma Student (Higher Level Math, English, Economics; Standard Level Physics, French, Chemistry)
My average up to now is around 95%, perhaps a bit higher.
Our school doesn't generate GPA or class rank. Canadians, eh?</p>

<p>Stuff I've done already:
Yearbook Committee (Editor in Chief)
- A note on this... this year there was a labor rights demonstration in which teachers quit supervising ECs. I basically had to act as both Editor and teacher supervisor to communicate directly with admin and publishers etc. and ensure no deadlines were missed. Also a great chance to see what selling and marketing a product actually is like, especially in times of social turmoil where everybody is anticipating the book to be crap.
Interact Club (President)
- Same. No teachers.
Math Club (Coordinator)
- Ditto.
Cancer Society (Student Ambassador)
Library Helper
Quiz bowl team
Photography (individual)
TED (translation/ transcription for videos)</p>

<p>Senior year plans:
Yearbook (Photographer)
Interact Club (Presidential Advisor)
Math Club (Coordinator)
Quiz bowl team
Photography
TED</p>

<p>Stuff I do over the summer:
9/10: Summer school + Photography
10/11: Volunteering with a non-profit (like, warehouse lifting) + Photography
11/12: Returning to that non-profit + Interning with a firm in Hong Kong + Photography</p>

<p>Awards:
- Pretty much top 5% on every math contest native to Canada (the Waterloo ones)
- Rank 19 in this Canadian chemistry contest (Avogadro..still Waterloo)
- Commended youth photographer in the Sony World Photography Awards
- Gold/ Silver Key for Photography in Scholastic Art and Writing Awards
- 2nd place at a city film festival </p>

<p>Recs/Essays:
- Guidance office at our school never does recs. VP may write me one.
- Should have one great rec and one above average rec.
- Essays should be above average.</p>

<p>More about me:
I'm huge when it comes to ethics and giving back. In preschool, when I transferred to the US, I couldn't speak English and was naturally left without friends. I remember distinctively sitting alone on one side of the see-saw, and then a teacher coming over to join me. From that moment on I pretty much wanted to help people and return the favor. Joining Interact and taking economics and volunteering so much with misc. organizations has really opened my eyes to how to the world is and ways I can help decrease world suck. Combined with my love of math and willingness to communicate with strangers and speak in front of a crowd, I feel like I want to go into finance/business. Because of this, I'm planning on applying ED to Wharton in the fall. I also really, really love the emphasis placed on social responsibility at Penn.</p>

<p>THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TAKING THE TIME TO READ THIS! I HOPE YOU WEREN'T BORED TOO MUCH! BAH!</p>

2

<p>There’s really no need to increase that 2280 but go for it. </p>

<p>NYU (Stern) match
Indiana (Kelly) safety
UMich (Ross) Match
UC-Berkeley (Haas) Match
University of Notre Dame (mendoza)
University of Virginia
Cornell University

Are you saying this because you can afford any college ? Colleges like UC- Berkeley, UVa, UMich will cost around 55k per year.</p>

3

<p>As it is amazing in economics, incredibly pretty, and in the third largest American city, The University of Chicago seems like a good option. Also, their philosophy program is good, their law school emphasizes legal ethics, and they have a stellar school of social work, which are all indicative of the sort of environment you seek. They might, however, prefer a more technical term than world suck. (That was a joke).</p>

4

<p>“I’m an international student applying from Canada”</p>

<p>You have no safeties in the US other than the very small number of places that admit even international applicants by the numbers. If you cannot pay the full cost of attendance, most of those cannot be considered safeties. There are only a handful of institutions that award guaranteed merit-based aid and admission to internationals. Read through this thread, and contact the places that might work for you, and ask about their international admissions policies. Some have very early application dates for the merit-based scholarships. <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>You are competitive for admissions anywhere in the US, but that doesn’t mean that any other places here are safe, or even matches. Much depends on whether you are legally Canadian (and can be admitted as a Canadian by those institutions that have relatively favorable admissions and financial aid for Canadians) or Chinese. Also, a great deal depends on how much your family is ready, willing, and able to pay. As an international applicant you will need to be able to demonstrate that you have the full cost of your education covered or you will not get a student visa. </p>

<p>Have a long sit-down chat with the person responsible for helping students at your school get into college, and find out where your legal status entitles you to study in Canada. I expect that your closest things to safeties would be there, as well as lots of good matches.</p>

5

<p>@XtremePower:</p>

<p>The family is willing to shell out all the cash needed - I think it’s a cultural thing, where Chinese people take education very seriously. That being said, we’ll be able and willing to pay that high cost.</p>

<p>Thanks for the reply!</p>

6

<p>@Rubbish:</p>

<p>UChicago seems great. I hear there’s an intellectual atmosphere there ‘similar’ to what you’d find at a school like MIT? Also, their admissions team is doing a kick-ass job with outreach, and the essay topics seem really fun. </p>

<p>Hmm… really? World suck sounded worthy of a Nobel Prize, to me :P</p>

<p>Thanks for the reply!</p>

7

<p>@happymomof1</p>

<p>Wow, the link you posted seems very helpful, and I’ll be sure to read it thoroughly over the summer! I’m a permanent resident in Canada, and should be updating from my red passport very soon. My family is willing and able to apply to pay any costs or fees incurred. </p>

<p>Re: the guidance counsellor and domestic applications part… guidance at my school strongly discourages studying abroad, perhaps even out of our province to some extent. I’ve heard from graduated students that they’ve been unbelievably unhelpful, and from the times I’ve approached them in the past I’m not too sure how much they’re willing to talk with me. Any advice? Great point though- matches and safeties are definitely more of an in-Canada thing for me. I’m applying to the University of Toronto and Waterloo when applications roll around!</p>

<p>Thanks for the reply!</p>

8

<p>If you are a citizen of Canada, why not consider some universities in Canada, like University of Toronto, University of British Columbia, and McGill University?</p>

<p>If you are a citizen of the US living outside of the US, you may have more options in terms of financial aid and scholarships, though you would not have any state residency for in-state tuition at state universities.</p>

<p>If you feel that you must have another standardized test try, consider the ACT, since some students do better on the ACT than the SAT.</p>

<p>For math and economics, you may want to take a look at the course catalogs and see if the various schools have math-oriented economics courses (e.g. intermediate microeconomics and econometrics that have more math prerequisites than frosh calculus, or offerings of advanced mathematical economics).</p>

<p>University of Minnesota - Twin Cities is well respected for math and economics, and has a relatively low list price even for non-Minnesota residents. It is also not super-selective, although international undergraduates probably should not count on it as a safety.</p>

9

<p>It seems like Kenyon would be pretty good for you. Google it! It’s pretty prestigious! I’d say its a reach/sorta match.</p>

10

<p>@ucbalumnus:</p>

<p>I get asked ‘why America’ a lot actually…and there are so, so many reasons. Just to state a couple, personally, it seems like a reasonable next step and almost like returning home after 8 years abroad. Also, I’m not excited for the potential classmates I’ll have in some/most Canadian universities. The programs I’ve interested in aren’t highly selective, much like most programs in Canada, and from the admitted classes I’ve seen, I’m not very confident that my potential peer group is one I’ll enjoy very much. That sounded pretty cocky, admittedly… This problem can be considered universal to some extent, but I’d rather ‘take a risk’ in the US. </p>

<p>With regards to standardized testing, I’ll definitely sit down over the summer to re-evaluate if the ACTs would be better for me. I guess I just want to finish what I’ve started with the SATs. I studied so hard for my subject tests and it paid off, but apart from memorizing vocab for the reasoning test, my efforts are still wanting. I think I just want to try harder. (Why do I come off so cocky?)</p>

<p>Course catalogs - brilliant. Will do!</p>

<p>Thanks for the reply!</p>

11

<p>@ofmunstersandmen:</p>

<p>Noticed that the class size is quite small, for one. LITTLE TALKS/THINGS like this add up - in a positive way: I would enjoy a small class size. Will review in-depth!</p>

<p>Thanks for the reply!</p>

12

<p>“My family is willing and able to apply to pay any costs or fees incurred.”</p>

<p>Do your parents the kindness of discussing with them just exactly how they plan to come up with the US$60,000 each year that some places could cost them. Chinese parents are famous for their willingness to sacrifice, but asking for something in the range of a quarter of a million US$ is serious. If your parents aren’t extremely wealthy, paying that kind of money can affect the family’s lifestyle far into the future. There is every chance that by sacrificing their current and future income for your education, your parents could end up needing your financial help in retirement right when you are starting to pay for your own children’s educations.</p>

13

<p>Reaches (but possible ones): UChicago, Williams, UPenn, Columbia, Amherst, Pomona, Swarthmore, Cornell</p>

<p>Matches: UC Berkeley, UVA, UMich, Notre Dame, Rice, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, Wellesley, Barnard, UT-Austin, NYU, Emory, Occidental, Smith</p>

<p>Safeties: UIUC, Purdue, Mt. Holyoke, Bryn Mawr, UC Irvine, UC Davis, UCSB, Boston Univ., UW Seattle, U Wisconsin, Penn State</p>

14

<p>You might also consider one “hail mary” school, like P’ton, Yale, Harvard, Stanford, and if you’re sure you won’t study humanities, you should consider both Caltech and Harvey Mudd. No joke.</p>